Transmission feedback mechanism for polling wireless devices

ABSTRACT

This disclosure describes methods, devices, and systems related to generate a trigger frame including one or more resource block identifications (RBIDs), each RBID being associated with a respective resource unit of one or more resource units on a communication channel; cause to transmit the first trigger frame to each of one or more devices; process a received power save poll (PS-poll) bit from a first device of the one or more devices on a spatial stream and a first resource unit of the one or more resource units; cause to transmit an acknowledgment to each of the one or more user devices; cause to transmit data buffered in the at least one processor to the first device; and process a received acknowledgment from the first device confirming receipt of the data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/757,969 filed Dec. 26, 2015 which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/189,596 filed Jul. 7, 2015 the disclosureof which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for wirelesscommunications and, more particularly, to orthogonal frequency divisionmultiple access polling feedback mechanisms for wireless devices.

BACKGROUND

Under development is a new Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) 802.11ax standard, known as high efficiency wirelesslocal area network (HEW) that is aimed to enhance Wi-Fi performance inindoor and outdoor scenarios. New HEW features are introduced to improvethe spectral efficiency and user-throughputs of Wi-Fi in densedeployments. These will involve changes to the physical (PHY) and mediumaccess control (MAC) layers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a network diagram illustrating an example networkenvironment of an illustrative orthogonal frequency division multipleaccess (OFDMA) uplink power save poll (PS-poll) exchange for pollingwireless stations, in accordance with the one or more embodiments of thedisclosure.

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative schematic diagram of an OFDMA uplink(PS-poll) exchange for polling wireless stations, in accordance with theone or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative schematic diagram of a resource blockallocation, in accordance with the one or more embodiments of thedisclosure.

FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative transmission and reception of a PS-pollbit from a wireless station to an access point, in accordance with theone or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 5A depicts a flow diagram of an illustrative process for anillustrative OFDMA uplink PS-poll exchange, in accordance with one ormore embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 5B depicts a flow diagram of an illustrative process for anillustrative OFDMA uplink PS-poll exchange, in accordance with one ormore embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates a functional diagram of an example communicationstation that may be suitable for use as a user device, in accordancewith one or more example embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an example machine upon which any of one ormore techniques (e.g., methods) may be performed, in accordance with oneor more embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example embodiments described herein provide certain systems, methods,and devices, for providing a framework for flexible connectivity betweenwireless devices.

The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustratespecific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practicethem. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical,process, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodimentsmay be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments.Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalentsof those claims.

A design target for HEW is to adopt methods to improve the efficiency ofWi-Fi, and specifically the efficiency in dense deployments of Wi-Fidevices, such as in malls, conference halls, etc. HEW may use OFDMAtechniques for channel access in the uplink and downlink directions. Itis understood that the uplink direction is from a user device to an AP,and the downlink direction is from an AP to one or more user devices. Inthe uplink direction, one or more user devices may be communicating withthe AP and may be competing for channel access in a random channelaccess manner. In that case, the channel access in OFDMA may requirecoordination among the various user devices that may be competing toaccess the operating channel simultaneously. A trigger frame may consistof a preamble along with other signaling, such as resource allocation,to coordinate the uplink OFDMA operation. A trigger frame may be a framethat contains a preamble and other fields that may be sent from an APinforming all user devices serviced by the AP that channel access isavailable.

With OFDMA, the AP may transmit a trigger frame for various reasons,such as for allocating resources. User devices may use the allocatedresource (e.g., 2 MHz of spectrum in a particular portion of thechannel) to transmit their data back to the AP. Therefore, with thisapproach, the user devices may only transmit a narrow bandwidth signalin response to a trigger frame. However, the AP may not know which userdevices or how many user devices have data to send.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems,methods, and devices for an OFDMA uplink resource allocation frameworkthat may enable two-phase uplink multi-user transmissions (UL MU) thatinclude a resource request phase and a data transmission phase. Theresource request phase may be triggered by the AP, where the AP may askuser devices to send a specific signal(s) within an uplink OFDMA signalif they want to have a transmit opportunity in the data transmissionphase or in future UL MU transmissions. A transmission period may bedefined by a duration of transmission opportunity (TXOP), which may be abounded time interval during which a user device 120 may send as manyframes as possible (as long as the duration of the transmissions doesnot extend beyond the maximum duration of the TXOP). The characteristicsof the signal sent by the user devices may enable the AP to identify theuser devices. For example, the AP may be able to determine if any of theuser devices are associated with the AP or if any of the user devicesare an unassociated user device. An associated device is a device thatis known to the AP and an unassociated device is a user device that isunknown to the AP. For example, a user device may send a code sequencein the high efficiency long training field (HE-LTF) of a PHY preamble.The code may be sent on a resource unit in frequency. This combinationof a code sequence and frequency resource unit may have an ID, which maybe referred to as a resource block ID (RBID). The AP may detect theenergy of the code sequence and frequency unit (e.g., RBID), whichenables the AP to know the identity of the user device sending the codesequence. The AP may acknowledge to the user devices that it receivedthe resource requests. The second phase may start with a trigger framesent by the AP, announcing the identity of the user devices that couldtransmit their uplink data, and other information like the allocatedresources.

The illustrative wireless network 100 of FIG. 1 may include one or moreAP(s) 102 that communicate with one or more user device(s) 120, inaccordance with IEEE 802.11 communication standards, including IEEE802.11ax. The one or more user device(s) 120 and the one or more AP's102 may be devices that are non-stationary without fixed locations ormay be stationary with fixed locations.

In some embodiments, the user device(s) 120 and AP 102 can include oneor more computer systems similar to that of the functional diagram ofFIG. 6 and/or the example machine/system of FIG. 7.

One or more illustrative user device(s) 120 may be operable by one ormore user(s) 110. The user device(s) 120 (e.g., 124, 126, or 128) mayinclude any suitable processor-driven user device including, but notlimited to, a desktop user device, a laptop user device, a server, arouter, a switch, an access point, a smartphone, a tablet, wearablewireless device (e.g., bracelet, watch, glasses, ring, etc.) and soforth.

Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP102 may be configured to communicate with each other via one or morecommunications networks 130 and/or 135 wirelessly or wired. Any of thecommunications networks 130 and/or 135 may include, but are not limitedto, any one of a combination of different types of suitablecommunications networks such as, for example, broadcasting networks,cable networks, public networks (e.g., the Internet), private networks,wireless networks, cellular networks, or any other suitable privateand/or public networks. Further, any of the communications networks 130and/or 135 may have any suitable communication range associatedtherewith and may include, for example, global networks (e.g., theInternet), metropolitan area networks (MANs), wide area networks (WANs),local area networks (LANs), or personal area networks (PANs). Inaddition, any of the communications networks 130 and/or 135 may includeany type of medium over which network traffic may be carried including,but not limited to, coaxial cable, twisted-pair wire, optical fiber, ahybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) medium, microwave terrestrial transceivers,radio frequency communication mediums, white space communicationmediums, ultra-high frequency communication mediums, satellitecommunication mediums, or any combination thereof.

Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP102 may include one or more communications antennae. Communicationsantenna may be any suitable type of antenna corresponding to thecommunications protocols used by the user device(s) 120 (e.g., userdevices 124, 126 and 128), and AP 102. Some non-limiting examples ofsuitable communications antennas include Wi-Fi antennas, IEEE 802.11family of standards compatible antennas, directional antennas,non-directional antennas, dipole antennas, folded dipole antennas, patchantennas, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, or the like.The communications antenna may be communicatively coupled to a radiocomponent to transmit and/or receive signals, such as communicationssignals to and/or from the user devices 120.

Any of the user devices 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP102 may include any suitable radio and/or transceiver for transmittingand/or receiving radio frequency (RF) signals in the bandwidth and/orchannels corresponding to the communications protocols utilized by anyof the user device(s) 120 and AP 102 to communicate with each other. Theradio components may include hardware and/or software to modulate and/ordemodulate communications signals according to pre-establishedtransmission protocols. The radio components may further have hardwareand/or software instructions to communicate via one or more Wi-Fi and/orWi-Fi direct protocols, as standardized by the IEEE 802.11 standards. Incertain example embodiments, the radio component, in cooperation withthe communications antennas, may be configured to communicate via 2.4GHz channels (e.g., 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n), 5 GHz channels (e.g.,802.11n, 802.11ac), or 60 GHz channels (e.g., 802.11ad). In someembodiments, non-Wi-Fi protocols may be used for communications betweendevices, such as Bluetooth, dedicated short-range communication (DSRC),Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) (e.g., IEEE 802.11af, IEEE 802.22), whiteband frequency (e.g., white spaces), or other packetized radiocommunications. The radio component may include any known receiver andbaseband suitable for communicating via the communications protocols.The radio component may further include a low noise amplifier (LNA),additional signal amplifiers, an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, oneor more buffers, and digital baseband.

When an AP (e.g., AP 102) establishes communication with one or moreuser devices 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, and/or 128), the AP maycommunicate in the downlink direction by sending data frames. When theuser devices communicate with the AP, the user devices may communicatein the uplink direction. For example, the AP may send a beacon frame 103followed by a trigger frame 105 to the one or more user devices 120. Thetrigger frame 105 may contain a preamble that may be part of a physicallayer (PHY) header or a MAC layer header. The preamble may be used toallow the user device to detect a new incoming data frame from the AP. Apreamble may be a signal used in network communications to synchronizetransmission timing between two or more devices (e.g., between the APsand user devices).

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a network diagram illustrating anexample wireless network 100 for an OFDMA power save poll (PS-poll)exchange for polling wireless stations, according to some exampleembodiments of the disclosure. In this environment, user devices 120,including HEW user devices, may communicate with AP 102, and transmitdata on an operating channel. In order to transmit data on the operatingchannel, the user devices may use resource units that may be allocatedfor data transmission. The user device(s) 120 may be assigned one ormore resource units or may randomly access the operating channel. It isunderstood that a resource unit may be a bandwidth allocation on anoperating channel in time and/or frequency domain. For example, withrespect to the AP assigning resource units, in a frequency band of 20MHz, there may be a total of 9 resource units, each of the size of abasic resource unit of 26 frequency tones. The AP 102 may assign one ormore of these resource units to one or more user device(s) 120 totransmit their uplink data. It is understood that the frequency band,the number of resource units, and frequency tones may be different.

Trigger frame 105 may contain information related to resourceallocation. For example, trigger frame 105 may contain RBIDs allocatedby AP 102. RBIDs may be assigned to one or more user devices prior tothe resource request phase. For instance, an RBID may be assigned duringassociation between AP 102 and any of the user devices 120. The triggerframe 105 may carry some information to identify the set of RBIDs thatmay be used for random access and the RBIDs that are assigned to one ormore user devices 120. If a user device 120 has an RBID that may be usedfor resource request based on previous assignment and based on thetrigger frame information, the user device 120 may participate in theresource request phase.

AP 102 may assign one or more RBIDs to the one or more user devices thatare associated with AP 102. For example, if AP 102 assigns RBID 1 touser device 124, user device 124 may utilize the resource block of theHE-LTF field corresponding to RBID 1. The resource block may be definedas a spatial stream and a resource unit in the frequency domain, whereinthe spatial stream is a code sequence corresponding to a row of aP-matrix. This combination of a code sequence and frequency resourceunit may have an ID, which may be referred to as resource block ID(RBID). The HE-LTF may be part of a PHY preamble sent from user device124 to AP 102.

When AP 102 receives poll 104, where RBID 1 is used, AP 102 maydetermine that the corresponding user device 124 is active and ready toreceive any buffered data that may need to be sent to user device 124(e.g., DL MU 108). Poll 104 may be a power save poll (PS-poll) sent toAP 102 from user device 124 indicating that it is not in a power savestate and ready to receive any data that AP 102 may be buffering foruser device 124. AP 102 may acknowledge to user device 124 and otheruser devices (e.g., user device 126 and 128) that it received the poll104 in a multiuser acknowledgment frame (e.g., MU Ack 107). In someembodiments AP 102 may broadcast MU Ack 107 to all user devicesincluding those user devices that did not transmit a poll. After sendingMU Ack 107 to user devices 120, AP 102 may send buffered data for userdevices 120 in a downlink multiuser frame (e.g., DL MU 108). The userdevices that received data may respond by sending an acknowledgmentframe (e.g., Ack 106).

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative schematic diagram of resource allocationin an OFDMA uplink power save poll (PS-poll) exchange for pollingwireless stations, in accordance with one or more example embodiments ofthe present disclosure. In this illustrative example, user devices 224and 226 may be associated with AP 202 and user devices 228 and 230 maybe unassociated with AP 202. AP 202 may send Beacon 203, Trigger Frame208, MU ACK 214, and DL MU 215 on downlink communication channel 242 touser devices 224-230. AP 202 may receive RBIDs 234-237 and ACKs 210-213on uplink communication channels 238-241 from user devices 224, 226,228, and 230 respectively.

In one embodiment, AP 202 may send a beacon frame 203 followed by atrigger frame 208 to initiate transmission of a poll bit from bothassociated and unassociated devices. Trigger frame 208 may inquirewhether user devices 224-230 are in a power save state. The user devicesthat are not in a power save state may send a PS-poll bit by sendingenergy on an assigned resource block corresponding to an RBID if theuser device is an associated user device (e.g., user devices 224 and226). However, if the user device is unassociated (e.g., user devices228 and 230), the user device may utilize a random resource block tosend energy, on a randomly selected resource block, corresponding to thePS-poll. For example, AP 202 may assign RBIDs to assigned user devices224 and 226 in trigger frame 208. Additionally, trigger frame 208 mayalso contain unassigned resource blocks that unassociated user devices228 and 230 may use to send their corresponding PS-poll bits. The AP 202may detect energy on one or more resource blocks from a user devicecorresponding to a resource block indicating that the user device is notin a lower power state (e.g., RBID 234, 235, 236, 237). For example, AP202 may detect energy on resource blocks 204 and 205 in the PHY preamblesent from user device 224 and user device 226 respectively.Additionally, AP 202 may detect energy on resource blocks 206 and 207.However, since user devices 228 and 230 are unassociated user devices,the AP may not be aware which user device is sending a PS-poll.

In one embodiment, AP 202 may assign resource units based on the RBIDassociated with the energy received on the corresponding resource block.For example, when user device 228 utilized resource block 206 to send aPS-poll, AP 202 may assign a resource unit and associate the resourceunit with the RBID that the energy was detected on. As a result, userdevice 228 may determine that a resource unit is assigned to it based onthe RBID. AP 202 may send a multiuser acknowledgment (e.g., MU ACK 214)to user devices 224-230 in response to RBID 234-236 as explained abovewith reference to FIG. 1. AP 202 may then send buffered data for any ofuser devices 224-230 to user devices 224-230. User devices 224-230 mayin turn send acknowledgment frames (e.g., ACK 210-213) to AP 202 inresponse to receiving the buffered data. In some embodiments, only someof the user devices may have buffered data waiting to be sent. The userdevices may use the same RBs to send the acknowledgment frames as wereused to send the PS-polls.

FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative schematic diagram of a resource blockallocation, in accordance with the one or more embodiments of thedisclosure. The resource block allocation may be defined by the AP. Aresource block may be defined as a spatial stream and a resource unit inthe frequency domain, wherein the spatial stream is a code sequencecorresponding to a row of a P-matrix. MIMO utilizes multiple antennas atboth a transmitting device (e.g., an AP) and a receiving device (e.g.,user devices 120) to help increase the throughput and transmit largeramounts of data over a wireless channel. MIMO employ a technique forusing spatial streams, which are streams that transmit independently andseparately encoded data signals from each of the multiple antennas.Additionally, MIMO utilizes a technique called spatial divisionmultiplexing (SDM) that takes advantage of the multiple transmit andreceive radio chains making it possible to send multiple streams of datasimultaneously on the same channel, thereby increasing the data rate andoverall throughput.

In one embodiment, a combination of a code sequence and frequencyresource unit may define a resource block. In other words, a resourceblock may be an orthogonal frequency-code slot defined by a resourceunit and a spatial stream. The HE-LTF may be part of a PHY preamble sentfrom user device 124 to AP 102. The AP may define a frequency-code grid300, where the column may represent different code sequences, which maybe lines of the P-matrix that may be used in a HE-LTF of a preamble.Generally, a P-matrix is a complex square matrix with every principleminor >0. A minor of a matrix A is generally a determinant of somesmaller square matrix, obtained from A by removing one or more of itsrows or columns. Minors obtained by removing just one row and one columnfrom square matrices (first minors) are required for calculating matrixcofactors, which in turn are useful for computing both the determinantand inverse of square matrices. An orthogonal matrix such as theP-matrix may be applied to the training symbols for a given group ofuser devices, which may result in training symbols being separated andmore easily distinguishable from one another. For example, the number ofcodes may be based on the number of rows in a P-matrix. In one example,there may be up to 8 codes. Further, frequency-code grid 300 may haverows representing resource units in the frequency domain (26 toneallocations for instance). The AP may define the number of columns(among other possible configurations) and the number of rows, which maybe based on UL OFDMA designs, for example, 4 columns and 9 rows using a20 MHz frequency band, or other values for columns and rows. In thisexample, 4 columns and 9 rows may result in 36 resource blocks. Each ofthe 9 rows may correspond to a resource unit (e.g., RU1-RU9), and eachresource unit may be comprised of four different spatial streams. Foreach resource unit there exists a spatial stream which corresponds to aresource block. Each resource block may have an ID, which may bereferred to as a resource block ID (RBID). For example RU(5) 320 maycomprise 26 tones that may be used by one or more user devices sendingdata to an AP using one or more spatial streams (e.g., SS1-SS4) each ofwhich may correspond to a different RBID (e.g., RBID17-RBID20). EachRBID may correspond to four of the same HE-LTFs. The HE-LTFs may containlines from a 4×4 matrix as depicted in frequency-code grid 300. Forexample, row 304 may correspond to four of the same HE-LTFs each ofwhich may contain a first line of the 4×4 P-matrix, row 306 maycorrespond to four of the same HE-LTFs each of which may contain asecond line of the 4×4 P-matrix, row 308 may correspond to four of thesame HE-LTFs each of which may contain a third line of the 4×4 P-matrix,and row 310 may correspond to four of the same HE-LTFs each of which maycontain a fourth line of the P-matrix.

The four HE-LTFs may be sent by a user device in succession and enablethe user device to encode data corresponding to the 1-bit field, HE-LTFfield BIT (1) 302 which may indicate whether the user device is in alower power state or not. The transmission of the four HE-LTFs in timeenable the user device to encode 1-bit of information per resourceblock, for up to 36 users each of which corresponds to an RBID. If theHE-LTFs are transmitted, the 1-bit field is equal to 1, and if they arenot transmitted the 1-bit field is not equal to 1. All or some resourceblocks may be randomly selected by user devices, all or some resourceblocks may be assigned to associated user devices, or some resourceblocks (e.g., block 304) may be assigned to associated user devices andsome blocks (e.g., block 310) may be randomly selected by user devices.

FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative transmission and reception of a PS-pollbit from a wireless station to an access point, in accordance with theone or more embodiments of the disclosure. In one embodiment, one ormore user devices that want to receive data from an AP in one or moredownlink data frames, may send a PS-Poll bit corresponding to theencoding of four HE-LTFs that are sent in a preamble to indicate that itis not in a power save state and therefore is ready to receive data. AnAP may have sent a trigger frame assigning RBIDs to various user devicesor may have sent a trigger frame with unassigned RBIDs that may be usedfor random access. User devices that have assigned RBIDs in the triggerframe may use their RBIDs in order to notify the AP that they are not ina power save state and are ready to receive any buffered data the AP mayhave to transmit by sending a PS-Poll bit. The user devices that do nothave assigned RBIDs may randomly select one of the unassigned RBIDs thatwere advertised in the trigger frame. As explained above, a user devicemay transmit a preamble that may contain one or more training fields.For example, user devices 404 and 406 may transmit at least an HE-STFframe on the bandwidth used by the trigger frame, followed by a HE-LTFframe, transmitted on the resource unit, and using a P-matrix code fromthe RBID corresponding to a spatial stream. Legacy preambles (L-STF,L-LTF, and L-SIG) may be sent prior to the HE-STF. In the example ofFIG. 4, user device 404 may transmit energy using the first line of a4×4 P-matrix, on the 4th resource unit in frequency (e.g., PS-Poll block424). The corresponding RBID may be RBID16 which may correspond to RU(4)318 and SS1 in RU(4) 318. SS1 in RU(4) 318 may correspond to the firstline in the 4×4 P-matrix, and RU(4) 318 may correspond to the 4^(th)resource unit in frequency. In addition, user device 406 may transmitenergy using the 4th line of the 4×4 P-Matrix, on the 6^(th) resourceunit in frequency (e.g., PS-Poll block 426). The corresponding RBID maybe RBID21 which may correspond to RU(6) 322 and SS4 in RU(6) 322. SS4 inRU(6) 322 may correspond to the fourth line in the 4×4 P-matrix, andRU(6) 322 may correspond to the 6^(th) resource unit in frequency. Userdevices 404 and 406 may send four HE-LTFs consecutively in order toencode a PS-Poll bit (e.g., HE-LTF field BIT (1) 302). For example, userdevice 404 may send the row of HE-LTFs corresponding to RBID16 and userdevice 406 may send the row of HE-LTFs corresponding to RBID21. It isunderstood that the above is only one example of utilizing a P-matrixand resource unit combination in order to determine a resource block.

In one embodiment, AP 408 may receive the HE-STF and HE-LTF from userdevices 404 and/or 406 in a combined format. When receiving each of thefour HE-LTFs from each of user devices 404 and/or 406, AP 408 may detectenergy (by correlation with the different sequences of the P-matrix inthe different resource units) on one or more resource blocks. When AP408 detects energy on the RBID assigned to a user device, AP 408 maydetermine which user device has sent a PS-Poll bit. When AP 408 detectsenergy on a resource block used for random access, it notes the resourceblock ID and uses this ID as the identifier for that user device.

FIG. 5A depicts a flow diagram of an illustrative process 500 for anillustrative OFDMA uplink PS-poll exchange, in accordance with one ormore embodiments of the disclosure.

At block 502, the AP may determine a first trigger frame including atleast a first resource block identification (RBID) and a second RBID.The first and second RBID may be associated with one or more resourceunits on a communication channel. The trigger frame may include one ormore resource block identifications (RBIDs) associated with one or moreresource units on a communication channel. Using the trigger frame, theAP may invoke user devices to send a PS-poll bit within an uplink OFDMAsignal if they want to retrieve buffered data in a MU DL frame (e.g., DLMU 215). The one or more resource blocks include a code sequenceassociated with a resource unit in a frequency domain as explained abovewith reference to FIGS. 3-4.

At block 504, the AP may assign each of the at least one of the firstRBID or the second RBID to a respective user device of one or more userdevices. Some of the user devices may be associated with the AP andother user devices may be unassociated with the AP. An associated deviceis a device that is known to the AP and an unassociated device is a userdevice that is unknown to the AP.

At block 506, the AP may send the first trigger frame to one or moreuser devices. Although the user devices may be associated orunassociated, the AP may send the trigger frame to all user devices. Theuser devices may be able to detect the trigger frame and make a decisionon whether to respond by sending a PS-poll bit. If a user device is in apower save state, it may not send a PS-Poll bit to the AP. If the userdevice is not in a power save state, it may send a PS-Poll bit to the APto indicate that it is available to receive any buffered data that theAP may have to send to it. The PS-Poll bit is an encoding of four of thesame line (i.e., code) of a P-matrix each of which may be transmitted ina HE-LTF field on a RU from the user device. The code and RU maycorrespond to a RB and may be identified by a RBID. The HE-LTFs may eachbe transmitted in a corresponding PHY preamble. The HE-LTF field mayinclude one or more resource blocks. A resource block may be defined asa spatial stream and a resource unit in the frequency domain, whereinthe spatial stream is a code sequence corresponding to a row of aP-matrix. This combination of a code sequence and frequency resourceunit may have an ID, which may be referred to as resource block ID(RBID).

At block 508, the AP may identify a PS-Poll bit received from a firstuser device of the one or more user devices corresponding to a spatialstream and energy received on a resource unit. The AP may identify whichuser device sent the PS-Poll, if the user device is an assigned userdevice, by correlating the energy in the received RB with a code and RU.If a user device is unassigned, and the AP receives a PS-Poll on a RBfrom the unassigned user device, the AP may assign the RB to the userdevice.

At block 510, the AP may transmit an acknowledgement frame to the one ormore user devices in a multiuser downlink DL frame (e.g., MU ACK 214).The acknowledgment frame may be sent to each of the user devices (i.e.,broadcast the DL frame to all user devices that may be a part of a BasicService Set (BSS) associated with the AP). The AP may determine that itis storing data for one or more of the user devices, and may send thedata to at least the first user device in a downlink multiuser frame(e.g., DL MU 215) in block 512. After transmitting the data to the oneor more users, the AP may receive an acknowledgment from each userdevice that received data (block 514). For example, user devices 226 and230 may receive data from AP 202 and may send ACK 211 and ACK 213respectively to AP 202.

FIG. 5B depicts a flow diagram of an illustrative process 550 for anillustrative OFDMA PS-poll exchange, in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure.

At block 552, a user device may identify a trigger frame received froman AP on a communication channel. The user device may be associated withthe access point or unassociated with the access point. The AP maydefine and advertise, for example, using beacons, control frames, or inthe trigger frame, the group of resource blocks that are assigned and/orthe resource blocks that are for random selection.

At block 554, the user device may cause to send four HE-LTFs in responseto the trigger frame to an AP. The four HE-LTFs may encode a 1-bitPS-poll as explained above, to notify the AP that it is not in a powersave state. In block 556, the user device may identify a multiuseracknowledgment (e.g., MU ACK 214) in a frame, received from an accesspoint, in response to sending the four HE-LTFs. After receiving themultiuser acknowledgement, the user device may identify buffered data,received from the AP, during a downlink multiuser frame (e.g., DL MU215) delivery phase in block 558. The user device may in turn send anacknowledgment in response to receiving the data in block 560.

FIG. 6 shows a functional diagram of an exemplary communication station600 in accordance with some embodiments. In one embodiment, FIG. 6illustrates a functional block diagram of a communication station thatmay be suitable for use as an AP 102 (FIG. 1) or a user device 120(FIG. 1) in accordance with some embodiments. The communication station600 may also be suitable for use as a handheld device, mobile device,cellular telephone, smartphone, tablet, netbook, wireless terminal,laptop computer, wearable computer device, femtocell, High Data Rate(HDR) subscriber station, access point, access terminal, or otherpersonal communication system (PCS) device.

The communication station 600 may include communications circuitry 602and a transceiver 610 for transmitting and receiving signals to and fromother communication stations using one or more antennas 601. Thecommunications circuitry 602 may include circuitry that can operate thephysical layer communications and/or medium access control (MAC)communications for controlling access to the wireless medium, and/or anyother communications layers for transmitting and receiving signals. Thecommunication station 600 may also include processing circuitry 606 andmemory 608 arranged to perform the operations described herein. In someembodiments, the communications circuitry 602 and the processingcircuitry 606 may be configured to perform operations detailed in FIGS.2, 3, 4, 5A and 5B.

In accordance with some embodiments, the communications circuitry 602may be arranged to contend for a wireless medium and configure frames orpackets for communicating over the wireless medium. The communicationscircuitry 602 may be arranged to transmit and receive signals. Thecommunications circuitry 602 may also include circuitry formodulation/demodulation, upconversion/downconversion, filtering,amplification, etc. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 606 ofthe communication station 600 may include one or more processors. Inother embodiments, two or more antennas 601 may be coupled to thecommunications circuitry 602 arranged for sending and receiving signals.The memory 608 may store information for configuring the processingcircuitry 606 to perform operations for configuring and transmittingmessage frames and performing the various operations described herein.The memory 608 may include any type of memory, including non-transitorymemory, for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., acomputer). For example, the memory 608 may include a computer-readablestorage device, read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM),magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash-memory devicesand other storage devices and media.

In some embodiments, the communication station 600 may be part of aportable wireless communication device, such as a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a laptop or portable computer with wirelesscommunication capability, a web tablet, a wireless telephone, asmartphone, a wireless headset, a pager, an instant messaging device, adigital camera, an access point, a television, a medical device (e.g., aheart rate monitor, a blood pressure monitor, etc.), a wearable computerdevice, or another device that may receive and/or transmit informationwirelessly.

In some embodiments, the communication station 600 may include one ormore antennas 601. The antennas 601 may include one or more directionalor omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas,monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas,or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. Insome embodiments, instead of two or more antennas, a single antenna withmultiple apertures may be used. In these embodiments, each aperture maybe considered a separate antenna. In some multiple-input multiple-output(MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated forspatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that mayresult between each of the antennas and the antennas of a transmittingstation.

In some embodiments, the communication station 600 may include one ormore of a keyboard, a display, a non-volatile memory port, multipleantennas, a graphics processor, an application processor, speakers, andother mobile device elements. The display may be an LCD screen includinga touch screen.

Although the communication station 600 is illustrated as having severalseparate functional elements, two or more of the functional elements maybe combined and may be implemented by combinations ofsoftware-configured elements, such as processing elements includingdigital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. Forexample, some elements may include one or more microprocessors, DSPs,field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) andcombinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing atleast the functions described herein. In some embodiments, thefunctional elements of the communication station 600 may refer to one ormore processes operating on one or more processing elements.

Certain embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination ofhardware, firmware, and software. Other embodiments may also beimplemented as instructions stored on a computer-readable storagedevice, which may be read and executed by at least one processor toperform the operations described herein. A computer-readable storagedevice may include any non-transitory memory mechanism for storinginformation in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). Forexample, a computer-readable storage device may include read-only memory(ROM), random-access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, opticalstorage media, flash-memory devices, and other storage devices andmedia. In some embodiments, the communication station 600 may includeone or more processors and may be configured with instructions stored ona computer-readable storage device memory.

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a machine 700 orsystem upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g.,methodologies) discussed herein may be performed. In other embodiments,the machine 700 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected(e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, themachine 700 may operate in the capacity of a server machine, a clientmachine, or both in server-client network environments. In an example,the machine 700 may act as a peer machine in peer-to-peer (P2P) (orother distributed) network environments. The machine 700 may be apersonal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, wearable computer device, aweb appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machinecapable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specifyactions to be taken by that machine, such as a base station. Further,while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloudcomputing, software as a service (SaaS), or other computer clusterconfigurations.

Examples, as described herein, may include or may operate on logic or anumber of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangibleentities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operationswhen operating. A module includes hardware. In an example, the hardwaremay be specifically configured to carry out a specific operation (e.g.,hardwired). In another example, the hardware may include configurableexecution units (e.g., transistors, circuits, etc.) and a computerreadable medium containing instructions where the instructions configurethe execution units to carry out a specific operation when in operation.The configuring may occur under the direction of the executions units ora loading mechanism. Accordingly, the execution units arecommunicatively coupled to the computer-readable medium when the deviceis operating. In this example, the execution units may be a member ofmore than one module. For example, under operation, the execution unitsmay be configured by a first set of instructions to implement a firstmodule at one point in time and reconfigured by a second set ofinstructions to implement a second module at a second point in time.

The machine (e.g., computer system) 700 may include a hardware processor702 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit(GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a mainmemory 704 and a static memory 706, some or all of which may communicatewith each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 708. The machine 700 mayfurther include a power management device 732, a graphics display device710, an alphanumeric input device 712 (e.g., a keyboard), and a userinterface (UI) navigation device 714 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, thegraphics display device 710, alphanumeric input device 712, and UInavigation device 714 may be a touch screen display. The machine 700 mayadditionally include a storage device (i.e., drive unit) 716, a signalgeneration device 718 (e.g., a speaker), an OFDMA uplink resourceallocation device 719, a network interface device/transceiver 720coupled to antenna(s) 730, and one or more sensors 728, such as a globalpositioning system (GPS) sensor, compass, accelerometer, or othersensor. The machine 700 may include an output controller 734, such as aserial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired orwireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.)connection to communicate with or control one or more peripheral devices(e.g., a printer, card reader, etc.)).

The storage device 716 may include a machine readable medium 722 onwhich is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 724(e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of thetechniques or functions described herein. The instructions 724 may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 704,within the static memory 706, or within the hardware processor 702during execution thereof by the machine 700. In an example, one or anycombination of the hardware processor 702, the main memory 704, thestatic memory 706, or the storage device 716 may constitutemachine-readable media.

The OFDMA uplink resource allocation device 719 may carry out or performany of the operations and processes (e.g., processes 500 and 550)described and shown above. For example, the OFDMA uplink resourceallocation device 719 may be configured to enable a two-phase uplinkmultiuser transmission (UL MU), a resource request phase and a datatransmission phase. The resource request phase may be triggered by theAP, where the AP may ask user devices to send a specific signal(s)within an uplink OFDMA signal if they want to have a transmitopportunity in the data transmission phase or in future UL MUtransmissions. The characteristics of the signal sent by the userdevices may enable the AP to identify the user devices. For example, theAP may be able to determine if any of the user devices are associatedwith the AP or if any of the user devices are an unassociated userdevice. An associated device is a device that is known to the AP and anunassociated device is a user device unknown to the AP. For example, auser device may send a code sequence in the HE-LTF in a PHY preamble.The code may be sent on a resource unit in frequency. This combinationof a code sequence and frequency resource unit may have an ID, which maybe referred to as resource block ID (RBID). The AP may detect the energyof the code sequence and frequency unit (e.g., RBID), which enables theAP to know the identity of the user device sending the code sequence.The AP may acknowledge to the user devices that it received the resourcerequests. The second phase may start with a trigger frame sent by theAP, announcing the identity of the user devices that could transmittheir uplink data, and other information like the allocated resources.

While the machine-readable medium 722 is illustrated as a single medium,the term “machine-readable medium” may include a single medium ormultiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/orassociated caches and servers) configured to store the one or moreinstructions 724.

Various embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented fully orpartially in software and/or firmware. This software and/or firmware maytake the form of instructions contained in or on a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium. Those instructions may then be readand executed by one or more processors to enable performance of theoperations described herein. The instructions may be in any suitableform, such as, but not limited to, source code, compiled code,interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, and thelike. Such a computer-readable medium may include any tangiblenon-transitory medium for storing information in a form readable by oneor more computers, such as, but not limited to, read only memory (ROM);random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storagemedia; a flash memory, etc.

The term “machine-readable medium” may include any medium that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution bythe machine 700 and that cause the machine 700 to perform any one ormore of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable ofstoring, encoding, or carrying data structures used by or associatedwith such instructions. Non-limiting, machine-readable medium examplesmay include solid-state memories and optical and magnetic media. In anexample, a massed machine-readable medium includes a machine-readablemedium with a plurality of particles having resting mass. Specificexamples of massed machine-readable media may include non-volatilememory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., ElectricallyProgrammable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), or Electrically ErasableProgrammable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices;magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks;magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

The instructions 724 may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 726 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device/transceiver 720 utilizing any one of a number oftransfer protocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP),transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP),hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communicationsnetworks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephonenetworks (e.g., cellular networks), Plain Old Telephone (POTS) networks,wireless data networks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards known as Wi-Fi®, IEEE 802.16family of standards known as WiMax®), IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards,and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others. In an example, thenetwork interface device/transceiver 720 may include one or morephysical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or moreantennas to connect to the communications network 726. In an example,the network interface device/transceiver 720 may include a plurality ofantennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single-inputmultiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), ormultiple-input single-output (MISO) techniques. The term “transmissionmedium” shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capableof storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by themachine 700 and includes digital or analog communications signals orother intangible media to facilitate communication of such software. Theoperations and processes (e.g., processes 500 and 550) described andshown above may be carried out or performed in any suitable order asdesired in various implementations. Additionally, in certainimplementations, at least a portion of the operations may be carried outin parallel. Furthermore, in certain implementations, less than or morethan the operations described may be performed.

The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example,instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as“exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred oradvantageous over other embodiments. The terms “computing device”, “userdevice”, “communication station”, “station”, “handheld device”, “mobiledevice”, “wireless device” and “user equipment” (UE) as used hereinrefers to a wireless communication device such as a cellular telephone,smartphone, tablet, netbook, wireless terminal, laptop computer, afemtocell, High Data Rate (HDR) subscriber station, access point,printer, point of sale device, access terminal, or other personalcommunication system (PCS) device. The device may be either mobile orstationary.

As used within this document, the term “communicate” is intended toinclude transmitting, or receiving, or both transmitting and receiving.This may be particularly useful in claims when describing theorganization of data that is being transmitted by one device andreceived by another, but only the functionality of one of those devicesis required to infringe the claim. Similarly, the bidirectional exchangeof data between two devices (both devices transmit and receive duringthe exchange) may be described as ‘communicating’, when only thefunctionality of one of those devices is being claimed. The term“communicating” as used herein with respect to a wireless communicationsignal includes transmitting the wireless communication signal and/orreceiving the wireless communication signal. For example, a wirelesscommunication unit, which is capable of communicating a wirelesscommunication signal, may include a wireless transmitter to transmit thewireless communication signal to at least one other wirelesscommunication unit, and/or a wireless communication receiver to receivethe wireless communication signal from at least one other wirelesscommunication unit.

The term “access point” (AP) as used herein may be a fixed station. Anaccess point may also be referred to as an access node, a base station,or some other similar terminology known in the art. An access terminalmay also be called a mobile station, user equipment (UE), a wirelesscommunication device, or some other similar terminology known in theart. Embodiments disclosed herein generally pertain to wirelessnetworks. Some embodiments may relate to wireless networks that operatein accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11 standards.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices andsystems, for example, a Personal Computer (PC), a desktop computer, amobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tabletcomputer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, aPersonal Digital Assistant (PDA) device, a handheld PDA device, anon-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, a vehiculardevice, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a consumerdevice, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a wireless communicationstation, a wireless communication device, a wireless Access Point (AP),a wired or wireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a video device,an audio device, an audio-video (A/V) device, a wired or wirelessnetwork, a wireless area network, a Wireless Video Area Network (WVAN),a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wireless LAN (WLAN), a Personal AreaNetwork (PAN), a Wireless PAN (WPAN), and the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one way and/or two-wayradio communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communicationsystems, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a wireless telephone, aPersonal Communication Systems (PCS) device, a PDA device whichincorporates a wireless communication device, a mobile or portableGlobal Positioning System (GPS) device, a device which incorporates aGPS receiver or transceiver or chip, a device which incorporates an RFIDelement or chip, a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) transceiver ordevice, a Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) transceiver or device, aMultiple Input Single Output (MISO) transceiver or device, a devicehaving one or more internal antennas and/or external antennas, DigitalVideo Broadcast (DVB) devices or systems, multi-standard radio devicesor systems, a wired or wireless handheld device, e.g., a Smartphone, aWireless Application Protocol (WAP) device, or the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more types ofwireless communication signals and/or systems following one or morewireless communication protocols, for example, Radio Frequency (RF),Infra Red (IR), Frequency-Division Multiplexing (FDM), Orthogonal FDM(OFDM), Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM), Time-Division Multiple Access(TDMA), Extended TDMA (E-TDMA), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS),extended GPRS, Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA(WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA,Multi-Carrier Modulation (MDM), Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT), Bluetooth®,Global Positioning System (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBee™, Ultra-Wideband(UWB), Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G,4G, Fifth Generation (5G) mobile networks, 3GPP, Long Term Evolution(LTE), LTE advanced, Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), orthe like. Other embodiments may be used in various other devices,systems, and/or networks.

In example embodiments of the disclosure there may be an access point,comprising: at least one memory that stores computer-executableinstructions; and at least one processor configured to access the atleast one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured toexecute the computer-executable instructions to: determine a triggerframe including one or more resource block identifications (RBIDs), eachRBID being associated with a respective resource unit of one or moreresource units on a communication channel; cause to send the firsttrigger frame to each of one or more devices; receive a power save poll(PS-poll) bit from a first device of the one or more devices on aspatial stream and a first resource unit of the one or more resourceunits; transmit an acknowledgment to each of the one or more userdevices; transmit data buffered in the at least one processor to thefirst device; and receive an acknowledgment from the first deviceconfirming receipt of the data.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Insome implementations the spatial stream may correspond to a code from aP-matrix. The first device may be associated with the access point, andthe at least one processor may be further configured to execute thecomputer-executable instructions to: assign a first RBID of the one ormore RBIDs to the first device. The first resource unit may comprise 26tones. The PS-Poll bit may be sent in a frame that includes a physicallayer (PHY) preamble. The PHY preamble may comprise a high efficiencylong training field (HE-LTF). The HE-LTF may include one or moreresource blocks, and the one or more resource blocks may be identifiedby a particular RBID of the one or more RBIDs.

The one or more resource blocks may include a code sequence associatedwith the first resource unit in a frequency domain. The access point mayfurther comprise: a transceiver in communication with the at least oneprocessor, the transceiver being configured to transmit and receivewireless signals; and an antenna coupled to the transceiver.

In some example embodiments there may be a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions whichwhen executed by one or more processors result in performing operationscomprising: determining a trigger frame including one or more resourceblock identifications (RBIDs) each RBID being associated with arespective resource unit of one or more resource units on acommunication channel; assigning each of the RBIDs to each of the one ormore devices; causing to send the first trigger frame to each of the oneor more devices; receiving a power save poll (PS-poll) bit from a firstdevice of the one or more devices on a spatial stream and a firstresource unit of the one or more resource units; transmitting anacknowledgment to each of the one or more user devices; transmittingdata buffered in the at least one processor to the first device; andreceiving an acknowledgment from the first device confirming receipt ofthe data.

The spatial stream may correspond to a code from a P-matrix. Theresource unit may comprise 26 tones. The data may be transmitted in adownlink (DL) multiuser (MU) frame. The PS-Poll bit may be sent in aframe that may include a physical layer (PHY) preamble. The PHY preambleincludes at least in part a high efficiency long training field(HE-LTF). The HE-LTF may include one or more resource blocks, and theone or more resource blocks may be identified by the RBID. The one ormore resource blocks may include a code sequence associated with thefirst resource unit in a frequency domain. The device may be associatedwith the access point or unassociated with the access point.

There may be a method performed by an access point comprising:determining a trigger frame including one or more resource blockidentifications (RBIDs) each RBID being associated with a respectiveresource unit of one or more resource units on a communication channel;assigning each of the RBIDs to each of the one or more devices; causingto send the first trigger frame to each of the one or more devices;receiving a power save poll (PS-poll) bit from a first device of the oneor more devices on a spatial stream and a first resource unit of the oneor more resource units; transmitting an acknowledgment to each of theone or more user devices; transmitting data buffered in the at least oneprocessor to the first device; and receiving an acknowledgment from thefirst device confirming receipt of the data.

The method may further comprise: transmitting a beacon frame before thetrigger frame, wherein the beacon frame includes one or more resourceblock identifications (RBIDs) each of which is associated with each ofone or more resource units on a communication channel.

In other embodiments there may be an access point comprising: means fordetermining a trigger frame including one or more resource blockidentifications (RBIDs), each RBID being associated with a respectiveresource unit of one or more resource units on a communication channel;means for causing to send the first trigger frame to each of one or moredevices; means for receiving a power save poll (PS-poll) bit from afirst device of the one or more devices on a spatial stream and a firstresource unit of the one or more resource units; means for transmittingan acknowledgment to each of the one or more user devices; means fortransmitting data buffered in the at least one processor to the firstdevice; and means for receiving an acknowledgment from the first deviceconfirming receipt of the data.

The spatial stream may correspond to a code from a P-matrix. The firstdevice may be associated with the access point, and the access point mayfurther comprise means for: assigning a first RBID of the one or moreRBIDs to the first device. The first resource unit may comprise 26tones. The PS-Poll bit may be sent in a frame that may include aphysical layer (PHY) preamble. The PHY preamble may comprise a highefficiency long training field (HE-LTF). The HE-LTF may include one ormore resource blocks, and the one or more resource blocks may beidentified by a particular RBID of the one or more RBIDs. The one ormore resource blocks may include a code sequence associated with thefirst resource unit in a frequency domain. The access point may furthercomprise: a transceiver in communication with the at least oneprocessor, the transceiver being configured to transmit and receivewireless signals; and an antenna coupled to the transceiver.

Certain aspects of the disclosure are described above with reference toblock and flow diagrams of systems, methods, apparatuses, and/orcomputer program products according to various implementations. It willbe understood that one or more blocks of the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and the flowdiagrams, respectively, may be implemented by computer-executableprogram instructions. Likewise, some blocks of the block diagrams andflow diagrams may not necessarily need to be performed in the orderpresented, or may not necessarily need to be performed at all, accordingto some implementations.

These computer-executable program instructions may be loaded onto aspecial-purpose computer or other particular machine, a processor, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a particularmachine, such that the instructions that execute on the computer,processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus create meansfor implementing one or more functions specified in the flow diagramblock or blocks. These computer program instructions may also be storedin a computer-readable storage media or memory that may direct acomputer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function ina particular manner, such that the instructions stored in thecomputer-readable storage media produce an article of manufactureincluding instruction means that implement one or more functionsspecified in the flow diagram block or blocks. As an example, certainimplementations may provide for a computer program product, comprising acomputer-readable storage medium having a computer-readable program codeor program instructions implemented therein, said computer-readableprogram code adapted to be executed to implement one or more functionsspecified in the flow diagram block or blocks. The computer programinstructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus to cause a series of operational elements orsteps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus toproduce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions thatexecute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide elementsor steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow diagramblock or blocks.

Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams supportcombinations of means for performing the specified functions,combinations of elements or steps for performing the specified functionsand program instruction means for performing the specified functions. Itwill also be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, may be implemented by special-purpose, hardware-based computersystems that perform the specified functions, elements or steps, orcombinations of special-purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainimplementations could include, while other implementations do notinclude, certain features, elements, and/or operations. Thus, suchconditional language is not generally intended to imply that features,elements, and/or operations are in any way required for one or moreimplementations or that one or more implementations necessarily includelogic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whetherthese features, elements, and/or operations are included or are to beperformed in any particular implementation.

Many modifications and other implementations of the disclosure set forthherein will be apparent having the benefit of the teachings presented inthe foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it isto be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to thespecific implementations disclosed and that modifications and otherimplementations are intended to be included within the scope of theappended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they areused in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes oflimitation.

1. (canceled)
 2. A device, the device comprising processing circuitrycoupled to storage, the processing circuitry configured to: determine apower save trigger frame comprising one or more resource allocations ofone or more resource units on a communication channel; cause to send thepower save trigger frame to one or more station devices in a multiusermultiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) communication; detect energy ona first resource block identification (RBID) associated with a firststation device of the one or more station devices; cause to transmitbuffered data to the first station device based detecting the energy atthe first RBID.
 3. The device of claim 2, wherein to detect energy onthe first RBID indicates that the first station device is active.
 4. Thedevice of claim 2, wherein the processing circuitry is furtherconfigured to determine a downlink frame to be sent to the first stationdevice, wherein the downlink frame acknowledges the detection of theenergy at the first RBID.
 5. The device of claim 2, wherein the firstRBID is associated with a first resource unit of the one or moreresource units.
 6. The device of claim 2, wherein the processingcircuitry is further configured to: determine no energy is detected on asecond RBID associated with a second station device; and determine notto transmit second buffered data to the second station devices based onthe no energy detection on the second RBID.
 7. The device of claim 2,wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to identify afirst acknowledgment frame receive from the first station deviceacknowledging the reception of the downlink frame.
 8. The device ofclaim 2, further comprising a transceiver configured to transmit andreceive wireless signals.
 9. The device of claim 8, further comprisingan antenna coupled to the transceiver.
 10. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions whichwhen executed by one or more processors result in performing operationscomprising: determining a power save trigger frame comprising one ormore resource allocations of one or more resource units on acommunication channel; causing to send the power save trigger frame toone or more station devices in a multiuser multiple-inputmultiple-output (MU-MIMO) communication; detecting energy on a firstresource block identification (RBID) associated with a first stationdevice of the one or more station devices; causing to transmit buffereddata to the first station device based detecting the energy at the firstRBID.
 11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10,wherein to detect energy on the first RBID indicates that the firststation device is active.
 12. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise determininga downlink frame to be sent to the first station device, wherein thedownlink frame acknowledges the detection of the energy at the firstRBID.
 13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10,wherein the first RBID is associated with a first resource unit of theone or more resource units.
 14. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise: determiningno energy is detected on a second RBID associated with a second stationdevice; and determining not to transmit second buffered data to thesecond station devices based on the no energy detection on the secondRBID.
 15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10,wherein the operations further comprise identifying a firstacknowledgment frame receive from the first station device acknowledgingthe reception of the downlink frame.
 16. A method comprising:determining, by one or more processors, a power save trigger framecomprising one or more resource allocations of one or more resourceunits on a communication channel; causing to send the power save triggerframe to one or more station devices in a multiuser multiple-inputmultiple-output (MU-MIMO) communication; detecting energy on a firstresource block identification (RBID) associated with a first stationdevice of the one or more station devices; causing to transmit buffereddata to the first station device based detecting the energy at the firstRBID.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein to detect energy on the firstRBID indicates that the first station device is active.
 18. The methodof claim 16, further comprising determining a downlink frame to be sentto the first station device, wherein the downlink frame acknowledges thedetection of the energy at the first RBID.
 19. The method of claim 16,wherein the first RBID is associated with a first resource unit of theone or more resource units.
 20. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising: determining no energy is detected on a second RBIDassociated with a second station device; and determining not to transmitsecond buffered data to the second station devices based on the noenergy detection on the second RBID.
 21. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising identifying a first acknowledgment frame receive from thefirst station device acknowledging the reception of the downlink frame.